A hot-emitter transistor based on stimulated emission of heated carriers

Chi Liu (), Xin-Zhe Wang, Cong Shen, Lai-Peng Ma, Xu-Qi Yang, Yue Kong, Wei Ma, Yan Liang, Shun Feng, Xiao-Yue Wang, Yu-Ning Wei, Xi Zhu, Bo Li, Chang-Ze Li, Shi-Chao Dong, Li-Ning Zhang (), Wen-Cai Ren, Dong-Ming Sun () and Hui-Ming Cheng
Additional contact information
Chi Liu: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Xin-Zhe Wang: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Cong Shen: Peking University
Lai-Peng Ma: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Xu-Qi Yang: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Yue Kong: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Wei Ma: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Yan Liang: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Shun Feng: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Xiao-Yue Wang: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Yu-Ning Wei: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Xi Zhu: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Bo Li: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Chang-Ze Li: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Shi-Chao Dong: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Li-Ning Zhang: Peking University
Wen-Cai Ren: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Dong-Ming Sun: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Hui-Ming Cheng: Chinese Academy of Sciences

Nature, 2024, vol. 632, issue 8026, 782-787

Abstract: Abstract Hot-carrier transistors are a class of devices that leverage the excess kinetic energy of carriers. Unlike regular transistors, which rely on steady-state carrier transport, hot-carrier transistors modulate carriers to high-energy states, resulting in enhanced device speed and functionality. These characteristics are essential for applications that demand rapid switching and high-frequency operations, such as advanced telecommunications and cutting-edge computing technologies1–5. However, the traditional mechanisms of hot-carrier generation are either carrier injection6–11 or acceleration12,13, which limit device performance in terms of power consumption and negative differential resistance14–17. Mixed-dimensional devices, which combine bulk and low-dimensional materials, can offer different mechanisms for hot-carrier generation by leveraging the diverse potential barriers formed by energy-band combinations18–21. Here we report a hot-emitter transistor based on double mixed-dimensional graphene/germanium Schottky junctions that uses stimulated emission of heated carriers to achieve a subthreshold swing lower than 1 millivolt per decade beyond the Boltzmann limit and a negative differential resistance with a peak-to-valley current ratio greater than 100 at room temperature. Multi-valued logic with a high inverter gain and reconfigurable logic states are further demonstrated. This work reports a multifunctional hot-emitter transistor with significant potential for low-power and negative-differential-resistance applications, marking a promising advancement for the post-Moore era.

Date: 2024
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07785-3 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:632:y:2024:i:8026:d:10.1038_s41586-024-07785-3

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07785-3

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().